Talk:Money
From the Lyorn Records of the Dragaeran Empire
What's the "exchange rate" for Earth money to Imperials? I had it pegged at about three dollars to the Orb, based in part on the price of a tag. Any other explicit "this costs this much" spots than can be used to compare? - Rook 20:38, 29 Sep 2005 (UTC)
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I used the comment by Vlad in Yendi that 6 imperials was "more than he makes in several weeks" of running the restaurant to estimate an "average wage" of 4-5 Imperials/month. Based on the fees of prostitues, cleaning bills, and other expenses we see throughout the stories, I usually guess that an Imperial is about $100, an orb is about $5, and a copper is about $0.25. On reading several of the books using these values, the prices listed usually seem to make sense. --Majikjon
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The only explicit instance I can pluck out my memory right now is when Khaavren is discussing the price of pastries in FHYA. However, if I remember right (a meat pastry costing a few coppers) this may mean that the exchange rate has probably fluctuated between the classic Khaavren era and the Vlad era.
Edit: actually, looking at the above values. A buck for a meat pastry is probably about right. (Though a good one, like a homemade empanada, might be $2.) -Attjen
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17 orbs to the Imperial would mean $3 to the orb was $51 to the Imperial. Come to think of it, didn't Vlad once give a figure of 500 Imperials as "enough to support a family for a year", while discussing an early job? Depending on the size of the family and the level of support, $25 000 to $50 000 would be reasobable for the "exchange rate" on 500 Imperials. -Rook 21:48, 29 Sep 2005 (UTC)
At an "average wage" of 4-5 Imperials per month, times 17 months, you'd get 85 Imperials per year. Now, Vlad does indicate he was just scraping by while running the restaurant, and seeing as he owned (and lived in) the place, he didn't have any rent. (He also had trouble paying his tax bill.) Single guy, living alone, probably eating food from his own restaurant that was part of his overhead... 85 Imperials a year is probably well below what an average "family" could live on, so this probably matches up pretty well. Still, the thing to remember in all of this is that the relative "purchasing power" of the Imperial is likely to vary greatly on some items we take for granted. (There being no Movies of T.V. for example, increases the demands for other "entertainments" which affects the relative prices.) I doubt its possible to really get an accurate "conversion rate" that makes sense in all cases.
--Majikjon
